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She Who Knows

When there is a call, there is often a response.

Najeeba knows.

She has had The Call. But how can a 13-year-old girl have the Call? Only men and boys experience the annual call to the Salt Roads. What’s just happened to Najeeba has never happened in the history of her village. But it’s not a terrible thing, just strange. So when she leaves with her father and brothers to mine salt at the Dead Lake, there’s neither fanfare nor protest. For Najeeba, it’s a dream come true: travel by camel, open skies, and a chance to see a spectacular place she’s only heard about. However, there must have been something to the rule, because Najeeba’s presence on the road changes everything and her family will never be the same.

Small, intimate, up close, and deceptively quiet, this is the beginning of the Kponyungo Sorceress.

Praise for She Who Knows

Okorafor packs a punch in her She Who Knows series launch, a return to the realm of the World Fantasy Award–winning Who Fears Death . . . Fans of Who Fears Death will appreciate the return to this rich, fully realized world, but Okorafor keeps things accessible enough that this works just as well on its own. Readers will devour this.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

 
As always with Okorafor’s work, the prose is sharp and immersive, the characters provide insight into family drama and healing, and the narrative seamlessly blends elements of fantasy, folklore, and speculative fiction . . . While this book may be short, its impact is anything but small.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

 
A new work from Africanfuturist Okorafor is always an event for speculative-fiction fans.

Ashley Rayner, Booklist

 
She Who Knows is a surprisingly intimate novel . . . [A] tale of courage and defiance, and one that is eminently readable even to those unfamiliar with Who Fears Death.

Gary K. Wolfe, Locus